Mercedes and Ferrari in F1 2026? George Russell and Lewis Hamilton share differing perspectives
SHANGHAI, China — F1’s newly crowned championship leader George Russell believes Ferrari is indeed competitive with Mercedes and could have claimed victory at the Australian Grand Prix with an alternative strategy.
Statistically, Russell secured a solid pole position and triumph at the season opener, both achieved ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Despite Mercedes dominating qualifying, Russell faced a challenge from the fast-starting Charles Leclerc for the initial 12 laps, while Lewis Hamilton remained close behind in the other Ferrari.
Ferrari’s competitiveness diminished when they chose not to follow Mercedes’ strategy of pitting both cars during what seemed to be a well-timed virtual safety car on the 12th lap.
Leclerc and Hamilton ultimately finished in third and fourth positions, respectively.
Russell traveled from Australia to China for the second race alongside Hamilton and was questioned on Thursday about whether his former teammate mentioned Mercedes’ contentious engine, as Russell had anticipated he might on Sunday evening, and how it felt to be F1’s points leader for the first time in his career.
“It feels no different to any other day to be honest here in China,” Russell stated. “I’m preparing as usual and going about my business as normal. I’m most pleased that the car is performing well and responding as expected. There is still potential for improvement, which is what I find most encouraging.
“The championship standings are irrelevant at this stage. Regarding Lewis, he was actually quite happy and optimistic after the race. I believe he deserved a spot on the podium if the strategy had been slightly different.
“Both of us generally feel that the competition between us and Ferrari could be quite tight. I don’t think anyone anticipated us to dominate the race on Sunday. My perspective is that many teams did not fully optimize their qualifying sessions.
“I think we executed a strong qualifying performance. When I reviewed the data, we were the fastest on the outlaps. It was quite cold.
“We managed the tyres effectively. We were the quickest in all corners. We got the energy management correct.
“Even in my comparison with Kimi, there was a significant difference in straight-line speed, influenced by some minor driving style variations. However, I believe Sunday reflected our true pace.
“When observing Ferrari’s race performance, they were essentially matching our lap times. I’m not convinced we could have secured the win if they had both pitted. When we did, it would have resulted in a competitive battle.”
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In discussing his former team versus his current one, Hamilton appeared less certain about the narrow margins — but acknowledged that the new regulations could lead to rapid changes.
“I think it really depends on development,” Hamilton remarked. “The pace of development is quite rapid for everyone right now, so there will be keen interest in which teams introduce upgrades in the upcoming races. They do have a significant advantage; in qualifying, it was, I don’t know, eight tenths or something like that, and during the race, I believe it was between four and five tenths when they were in clear air, which is a considerable gap.
“So it will be intriguing to observe the development; we will strive to close the gap, and I have faith that we can, but I cannot say it will be guaranteed.”
Leclerc also anticipates that the gap may fluctuate from week to week, but believes Mercedes currently holds an advantage.
“I think the situation will remain relatively consistent. In qualifying, I do not expect us to match their level just yet. Certainly, we will be closer because in Melbourne, we made several adjustments that we have yet to optimize, which could yield significant lap time improvements, but we are definitely not at their level.
“In the race, I think it will be more competitive. Making accurate predictions at this early stage of the season, with limited knowledge of their car, is challenging; we still need to comprehend the effects of what we observe in the race data from Mercedes. In qualifying, when you analyze the differences between cars, it is not like last year where it was easy to identify a car with a substantial advantage.
“When comparing George and Kimi in qualifying, there is about three tenths separating the cars. There are many factors related to driving style. There are numerous aspects to analyze, and it requires time.
“I don’t think we are yet confident in understanding how performance varies from track to track.”
Source: espn.com
